The Date
by milkweed fluff
Summary: Daisuke asked Hikari out on a date, and much to everyone's surprise, she actually accepts! Unfortunately, this doesn't bode well with a few people, and their date might turn out a little more interesting than they expected. Onesided Daikari and then some.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note**: Well, this story was originally one part of one huge fic where the characters from seasons 1-4 would all be crammed into one school, with it being a sort of arc at some point. But after looking at it, I think it would do better as a separate piece.

Disclaimer: I will laugh if you think any of these characters belong to me. :3

---

**Chapter 1: Date Riot**

'Daisuke did _what?_' Taichi's eyes grew wide with disbelief.

'He asked her out.' Takato repeated.

'I think he heard you, Takato.' Wallace clarified. 'He's just getting over the shock.'

'Well, that's just what I heard from Takuya.' Takato added, as he scratched his head apologetically. 'I don't really know the details.'

'Daisuke's really becoming serious isn't he?' Wallace mused. 'I'm surprised Hikari-san didn't reject him on the spot.'

'She's not like that.' Taichi glowered. 'She's too nice sometimes. Come on Takato—take me to Takuya!'

'Huh? But aren't you seeing him after school for soccer?'

'_Now_.'

Takato gulped. Somehow he knew there was something about this 'sibling complex' he knew he wouldn't understand even if his life depended on it. However, Takato succumbed to Taichi's utterly grim expression and led him down the halls wordlessly to avoid the god-knows-what crazy shenanigans Taichi might and would do. Wallace followed them in faint amusement. Takato sighed. If it concerned a girl, of course he'd tag along. Never mattered which one.

Takuya was laughing hard at a joke Junpei cracked while they, Izumi, Takeru, Jen and Ken were having lunch in the 7-4 classroom. Takuya wiped tears from his eyes when Takato tapped him on the shoulder nervously.

'Oh, hey Takato.' Takuya said, still just recovering from the laughter. He noticed Takato's nervous face. 'What's up, buddy?' he asked.

'Takuya is quite dense.' Wallace commented. Takuya looked at him, slightly irked by his comment, but still oblivious what he meant. 'Can't you feel the menacing aura behind you?' Wallace asked. Jen, who was quick to catch on to the situation, took a step back: this could get messy.

'What do you mean—' Takuya turned around, only to be towered over by Taichi, whose eyes even Junpei could swear were gleaming. Meanwhile, Wallace went up to Izumi. 'Hello, Izumi-san.' He smiled kindly as he touched her face softly. 'Your face looks so cute today.' She blushed a deep crimson and giggled. Junpei had the intention to send Wallace flying, and would have opened his mouth in protest if Taichi's menacing voice hadn't caught his attention.

'Takuya.' Taichi said, slowly and deliberately, clearly trying to sound friendly but desperately failing. 'I heard something pretty interesting from Takato.' Takuya shot a worried, Oh-dear-god-what-did-you-tell-him? face at Takato, who shrugged guiltily. 'It's about Daisuke asking my sister out.' Taichi clarified, eyes still wide.

'_Huh?_' Takeru gasped in disbelief. Ken shrank a little, and Jen noticed. He leaned over and whispered 'Daisuke's told you, I'm willing to guess.' Ken shrugged. 'Y—yeah. He wanted a second opinion…' He confided softly. 'Don't let Taichi-san hear you, then.' Jen warned playfully. 'I don't think I know him well enough, but it looks as if he's about to scream bloody murder right now.'

'You and Daisuke are _very_ good friends, so you would know, wouldn't you? _Is it true?_' Taichi stared down at Takuya with piercing eyes. Takuya himself seemed to have had a loss of words, caused by the intimidation of Taichi's feel of massiveness over him. One wrong word, and he thought Taichi might pummel him.

'Uh…I—Uh—'

Izumi managed to pull away from Wallace's charms and decided to step in. 'I heard about that.' She rang. 'Miyako told me about it.' Taichi shifted his attention to Izumi. 'So?' he asked, putting his hands on her shoulders and nearly shaking her. 'What did she say?' Wallace decided that this wasn't a good time to flirt, and took a step back, just as Ken did. 'Join the club, Wallace.' Jen whispered.

'Well' Izumi did not let herself be silenced by his aggressiveness: Taichi was essentially a nice person—essentially. 'Miyako told me that Hikari said that she thought it over a bit, and after I talked to Hikari, she told me she was going to agree to go out with him today.'

'_What?_' Taichi and Takeru said in unison and disbelief.

'_Really?_' said Ken and Jen, though Izumi couldn't be sure whether they were enthusiastic, surprised, or just horrified.

'Who knew?' Wallace mused.

'Where is she now?' Taichi asked, almost in a frenzy.

'Well, I think she's having lunch today with Miyako and Juri—and maybe Alice—'

'_Where_, Izumi, _where!_'

'I was getting to that?' her irritation rang evidently through her voice. 'I was going to say they were probably going to be in classroom 7-2 or 7-3…' This was when Taichi bolted out the door with Takeru, followed closely by frantic Ken and soon after by thoroughly amused Wallace.

'At least someone's having fun.' Jen thought to himself. Takuya breathed a sigh of relief. 'Man, Takato.' He cried. 'You nearly got me into a lifetime's worth of bruises!'

'Sorry! Wow, who knew Taichi would have such a scary persona?'

'It's called a sister complex.' Jen laughed as he bit into a sweet meat-filled bun.

'You would know, wouldn't you?' Ken commented on the side. 'A house full of siblings, right?'

'Geez. What the heck was all the fuss about anyway?' Junpei said, tearing the edge of a candy wrapper. Izumi grinned in amusement, and tilted her head into a slightly flirtatious smile. 'Boys. They'll never understand a woman's heart.' She sighed. 'Except Wallace.'

'That guy…' Junpei steamed through gritted teeth.

Takeru knew Hikari would be in class 7-3. She had told him so before lunch. As Taichi dove into 7-2's class, Takeru slipped into the next classroom to find Hikari. He only had to take a quick scan of the room to see a familiar face, sweet and pure and angelic—it gave Takeru a feeling of strange protectiveness over her whenever he saw her. He crossed the room to get to her—then stopped. What was he going to say? 'Please refuse Daisuke'? Why should she? Did she really want to go with him? If she did, then he shouldn't deny her something that made her happy. Takeru was caught desperately between two decisions, and inside the two choices were warring, attempting to dominate over one another. He knew inside which course of action he wanted to take, but what he wanted and what Hikari wanted were two different things, he knew. He wanted to protect her, he wanted to make her happy—and if this made her happy, then—

'Takeru!' Hikari noticed him now and beckoned to him. He was caught by surprise, then, smiling as best as he could manage, he went up to Hikari.

'Hi. I thought you were with Jen and Takuya and the others.' She said.

'I was. I just got here now because…They—uh…Some of them left early too, so there wasn't anyone left to hang out with.' He stuttered an improvised reply as he smiled apologetically. 'Sorry to intrude.' He told Juri and Alice, who were sitting across Hikari.

'No problem!' Juri giggled. 'Don't worry about it!' Alice said nothing, but she nodded and smiled slightly in agreement. Suddenly, Taichi made his grand appearance, closely followed by a rather worried-looking Sora and a hard-to-read Wallace.

'_Hikari_!' Taichi was utterly flushed. He was taking this date business really badly, a lot worse than Sora thought.

'Nii-chan.' Hikari turned around to face him in surprise. 'Why are you here? Did you come to take my food again?' she teased.

'Is it true?' he asked. 'That you're—you're going on a d-date with Daisuke?' he stammered, spilling the words out clumsily, apparently not too familiar with confronting Hikari about these particular issues. Hikari looked at him in utter astonishment at first, then Takeru and Wallace noticed the blush that crept up her cheeks. 'Where did you hear that?' she asked.

'From Takato.' Taichi explained. Before Hikari could ask again, he continued. '…Who was told by Takuya, who was told by none other than Daisuke himself.' Alice sat there, inwardly curious as to how this situation was going to turn out. Juri was, as well, except much more outward and enthusiastic about it. 'Takato knew? Oh, I wonder who else knows about this!' she cried out in excitement. Hikari however was still a little red, but she still tried to smile. Sora sighed. 'Well, more and more people know by the minute, because of Taichi and his crazy endeavours.' She pretended to tweak him by the ear. 'Come on, Tai.' She pulled him away and whispered so that everyone was out of earshot. 'Let Hikari decide for herself. She's already thirteen. As her older brother, you shouldn't smother her.'

'I'm not _smothering_ her.' Taichi insisted. 'I just think that—'

'Please, Tai.' Sora said, putting feeling into the words she spoke. 'Just let her be. It's normal to be concerned, but you should let her make her own decisions. It's a part of life…' Taichi subsided a little. Sora felt his muscles relax as he withdrew his aggressive side back into himself. Meanwhile, Wallace had taken a seat in between Alice and Juri, smiling at them softly and kindly. The two girls smiled in response, possibly with a hint of red on Juri's cheeks. Taichi turned to Hikari. 'Okay, okay.' He said, giving a tone of final defeat into his words. 'I won't get in the way. Have fun, Hikari, I hope it goes well…' That last sentence struggled its way out of his mouth. Takeru watched in defeated misery as Taichi shuffled out of the classroom with Sora. That was his last hope of opposing Hikari's date plan, without the protest having to come from his mouth at all. He sighed inwardly and slumped slightly on the chair he sat on. Alice noticed. Juri, on the other hand, was even more riled up than ever.

'You're brother's awfully protective, isn't he?' she sighed. 'That's so sweet!'

'Yes. Isn't it?' Wallace agreed pleasantly. Takeru gritted his teeth, as he was growing slightly annoyed by Wallace; he had done absolutely nothing about the situation except make a good joke out of the whole thing.

Alice got up from her seat and brushed the crumbs off her high school uniform lackadaisically.

'Are you heading back, Alice?' Hikari asked. Alice nodded. 'I've got to be going now, because I've got some things I need to take care of in my classroom. Takeru.' She addressed, shifting the vision of her ice-blue eyes towards him. 'Will you walk me there, please?'

'Huh? Oh, sure…' Takeru was quite surprised at Alice's request. So were Juri, Hikari, and Wallace. As Takeru walked out of the classroom with Alice, Juri squealed. 'What was that about?' she wondered dreamily.

'Y-yeah.' Hikari said vaguely, looking at Alice and Takeru's retreating figures.

Yeah. Wallace agreed inside. Perhaps she prefers Takeru instead of me… I wonder what I did wrong?

As Alice walked beside Takeru, she hadn't bothered to point out that she was taking the long route to the high school division's building. As soon as the corridors were empty, she spoke without looking his way.

'Are you bothered?' she asked, eyes straight ahead on the hallway.

'Bothered?'

'By Hikari's date, I mean.' She sighed. Why did everyone play dumb these days?

Takeru thought about denying it, but somehow knew Alice would see through it. 'Yeah.' He admitted.

'What are you going to do about it?'

'Nothing.' Takeru said firmly, trying to convince himself out loud that he indeed was not going to do anything for the matter. 'It's Hikari's choice. If it makes her happy, then there's no need to oppose it.'

'I see.' Alice saw her classroom door and stopped in front of it, but she made no move to slide it open. 'You're a pretty sincere kid, Takeru.' She said, staring at the door's handle. 'I can see why you like Hikari. You're both so alike, sometimes.' And she slid the door open.

'I guess I'll see you around.' Takeru said, unsure if he should say much more. 'Yeah. Alice replied. 'You too. And good luck, as well. If anything, you have my support.' And she walked into classroom 1-3 as Takeru turned slightly red. 'Thanks.' He managed to say. 'Thanks a lot.'

****

…So it appears that Alice is a Takari shipper! Hm. Well, I just added that in, since I can kind of see her supporting Takari more than Daikari.

As for Taichi… Well, who knew he could be so crazy.

Also, poor Wallace. He thinks there's some sort of flaw in his flirting techniques, seeing as Alice is so unaffected.


	2. Insommia and Recklessness

**Chapter 2: Insommia and Recklessness**

Takeru didn't sleep well that night. He tossed, turned, slept under, over and beside his blanket, lied on his stomach, back, side—and a hundred more different sleeping positions—yet none of them brought any content to him. He finally rubbed his hollow eyes, and got up from his bed as the first rays of light met his window. He rose up slowly, then, after a whole night of thinking it over, tiptoed out of his bedroom and made his way to the telephone.

A sharp ring of the telephone woke Ken with a headache. He wondered sleepily who might be calling at such an early hour.

'Ichijouji residence.' He said groggily into the phone as he clicked the 'on' button.

'Ken. It's me.'

'Takeru?' Ken yawned. 'Why are you up? It's got to be about 6:00 am on a Saturday morning right now.'

'Listen. I've decided to call you because…I guess I can trust you not to go telling.' Takeru sounded serious. Ken knew this and began to pay his full attention. 'Why? What's wrong, Takeru?'

'I—I know that Daisuke's got a date with Hikari today.' Takeru sounded a little off. 'Yes. He does. What about it?' Ken rubbed his tired eyes, which threatened to close from tempting sleep, though he fought it viciously. 'Do you know where they're going to be?' Takeru asked firmly.

'Huh? Yeah…I helped Daisuke pick out a restaurant for his date…Why are you asking?'

'I was just wondering where they were going to be.'

'Why? Are you going to join them?'

'Where are they going to be, Ken?' Takeru repeated, slowly and seriously.

'Well…Daisuke decided on a restaurant Takuya and I showed him the day before—you know '_Cucina di Orimoto_?' It's the one near the fountain by the park on the West district…'

'An Italian restaurant, huh?' Takeru murmured. 'Yeah I know that one. I think Izumi's relatives own that.'

'Yeah. That's why Takuya knew about it.' Ken replied. His brain was still half asleep.

'Where and what time are they meeting up?'

'Um. Around lunchtime by the fountain, I think.' Suddenly, something clicked in his head. Ken's words became urgent. 'Listen to me, Takeru; are you going to follow them?'

A pause. 'Possibly. I have to go now, Ken. Thanks for the info. Don't go telling anyone about this okay?'

'Takeru!' Ken became frantic. 'You can't! That's—you just can't!'

'Ken. I've got to go now.'

'Wait. I can't just let you go—' But much to Ken's horror, he heard the line on the other end die.

'What have I done?'

Takeru selected a rather different attire for his undercover work: dark jeans (they were Yamato's and a little too tight-fitting for Takeru's liking. He had to roll them up at the ankles because they were too long), sneakers, large-framed sunglasses and a baseball cap, to cover his hair. He stared at himself in the full-length mirror, inspecting himself for any familiarities. Not too bad, he mused. It's completely out of my style. Though I'd be recognized if I was seen too close by. He stared out at the sky, and, seeing some distant clouds, tied a thick raincoat around his waist, and got ready to set off.

By the fountain, Takeru was an hour early. He sighed at his own brashness as he sat on a bench nearby. What am I doing? He thought to himself. I'm acting so recklessly now. Just like three certain goggle-wearing boys he knew. He sighed again, blowing a lock of hair that strayed over his eyes. He was at a loss of what to do, and sat there for a long time, wondering whether he should just quit while there was time. He thought of his options carefully when a loud voice called out to him.

'Takeru!' a female voice cried. For a split second, Takeru jumped off the bench in fear that Hikari had discovered him. Then, as he turned around, he saw two people running up to him. As he squinted he realized it was Miyako and Ken.

'Ken! Miyako! What are you doing here!'

After catching her breath, Miyako said 'Ken told me all about it. Oh, Takeru, what in the world do you think you're doing?' Takeru looked passed her. 'You told Miyako?' He almost glared at Ken over her shoulder. Ken panted as he shrugged in guilt. 'I couldn't just let you go, could I? I didn't know whom else to tell, and…I don't know. I just knew I couldn't leave the situation at that. I didn't tell anyone else, though. Not even Daisuke.'

'Well. At least.' Takeru said, sighing in a little relief. Then his expression hardened. 'But what are you guys going to do? You can't take me home: I'll decide on my own when I want to leave.' The sudden appearance of his friends fuelled his motivation.

'Hmph. We figured as much!' Miyako cried. 'Listen, Takeru. We're worried, that's all. So Ken suggested we go out to keep an eye on you.'

'Is that why Ken's got his hair tied, wearing fake glasses, a high scarf and a French beret?' Ken went a little red. 'She made me put it on.'

'Doesn't it suit him?' Miyako laughed. 'Yes. We were hoping to stalk the stalker unnoticed. But we decided on our way here that it would be too difficult, and that confronting you would be easier.'

'Oh well. At least you guys look relatively different.' Takeru sighed.

'So do you.' Ken replied. 'It took us a long time to find you, when you've been on this bench the whole time.'

'That's a relief. The being unrecognizable part, I mean; stop looking at me like that Miyako—anyway, what are you going to do now?' Takeru asked. 'Come with me?'

'You bet.' Miyako said, as she adjusted the large hat on her head. She had tied her hair and hidden all of it under that cap, Takeru noticed, and switched her usual spectacles to extra dark-tinted sunglasses. 'We want to make sure you don't go doing anything stupid!'

'I wouldn't.' Takeru said, a little frustrated. He glanced at the fountain, where Hikari was already waiting. Takeru panicked. 'Quick!' he pushed the two startled friends into the bushes, and jumped in after them.

'Takeru, not to insult your level of common sense, but won't we be more conspicuous in the bushes?' Ken said as he gingerly rubbed the side he fell on. 'I mean, we're already disguised!' But Takeru didn't seem to hear Ken, because he was peering through the bushes at Hikari's direction.

'He's completely oblivious!' Miyako couldn't believe it. 'He won't stop staring at Hikari!'

'No. That's not it.' Takeru said gravely, trying to control the blood rushing to his cheeks. 'Look at the narrow alley near her. Where the light doesn't hit.' The two brushed a few leaves to clear their vision. 'Do you see that guy in the hoodie?' Takeru asked.

'He looks…Familiar.' Ken said, squinting through his clear glass lenses to see under the bright sunlight.

'Guys! I think that's Taichi!' Miyako cried.

'That's what I thought, too.' Takeru said. 'Looks like we aren't the only ones.'

****

Dun dun dun. The overprotective brother makes an appearance. Good luck not getting beaten to a pulp, Daisuke.


	3. Sister Complex

**Author's note: **Apologies for the rather short chapter here, but it was hard to chop up the story evenly as well as making the intervals make sense.

****

**Chapter 3: Sister Complex**

Taichi couldn't resist leaving the house soon after Hikari did. It wasn't like he was following her; he was simply going on the same direction as she was. It was utter coincidence, really, he reasoned as he grabbed a hoodie sweater he borrowed from Ryo and pulled the hood over his head. 'She's never seen me with this hoodie yet.' He thought to himself. 'She wouldn't know me if I turned my back to her.' And, deciding to omit the hair gel from his daily routine in the bathroom, he instead styled it by lying it flat, till it looked a little like Yamato's long hair, except not quite as neat. Why does Yamato go through all this trouble every morning? Taichi thought, as he tried his best to flatten his hair. I can't believe he actually can actually keep it down the whole day! After slinging a casual backpack on his shoulders, complete with everything he was sure he would need—and more—he waited approximately two minutes before leaving the house after Hikari. He trailed her inconspicuously from a safe distance, until she stopped in front of Central fountain, where she appeared to be waiting for Daisuke. Taichi took refuge in a nearby alleyway, between two shop buildings, where he waited anxiously for Hikari's date to arrive. He reached into his backpack to pull out an energy bar to munch on when he heard someone from behind him.

'Taichi!' someone hissed. Taichi nearly jumped ten feet in the air, and, with the energy bar still in his mouth, he whirled around to see who might have discovered him. Three faces stared at Taichi in amusement, determination, and uneasiness.

'Miyako? Takeru? Ken?' Taichi sounded dumbfounded even with his mouth full. 'What are you—'

'Oh don't play dumb, Taichi.' Miyako said, putting on her best frown. 'We know you're here to stalk Hikari on her date!'

'No! That's not—wait a minute. Why are you guys here?' Taichi cried. 'You're doing the same, aren't you?'

'On the contrary: Takeru is. We're here to keep him out of trouble.' Ken clarified.

'And now we've got to keep an eye on you too!' Miyako sighed. 'Man, I didn't think this was going to be so frustrating, Ken!'

Hikari was waving at someone now. Takeru, noticed first. 'Daisuke's here!' he hissed to them. They all suddenly craned their necks forward to watch the spectacle. Daisuke was bowing to her, and scratching his head in embarrassment. Hikari was shaking her head while smiling slightly.

'Probably apologising for being late.' Ken observed.

The two now started walking. Taichi jumped into action as he adjusted the hood over his head.

'Wait! Where are you going?' Ken asked frantically as Taichi stepped out of the alleyway.

'Where do you think?' Taichi replied simply. Takeru followed him without a word.

'Geez. These guys won't listen to reason!' Miyako sighed as she took Ken's arm. 'Let's go.' She told him. 'We had better follow them, Ken.' Ken nodded.

They followed Hikari and Daisuke into '_Cucina di Orimoto'_ where, after turning a deaf ear to Miyako and Ken's protests, ordered a table for four, a safe distance away from the two, but still close enough for them to be in clear vision.

'Guys. This is an invasion of privacy… We shouldn't be doing this.' Ken pleaded quietly. 'Let's just go now.'

'You can leave.' Taichi said, keeping his voice low but serious. 'But I'm staying here with my little sister.'

'—Who doesn't even know that you are currently stalking her!' Miayko hissed. Takeru said nothing.

The four of them would have eventually broken out into an argument (mostly Miyako and Taichi) if a waitress hadn't snapped them back into reality.

'_Buongiorno!_ Welcome to _Cucina di Orimoto_! What would you like today?' said a familiar voice. The waitress looked at her customers, then peered at them closely, much to their dismay. All four tried to look the other way, in desperate attempt to hide their faces, but the waitress had figured it out by then.

'Miyako? Ken? Takeru?_ Taichi-senpai?_' Izumi cried. 'What are you guys doing here! You should have told me you were coming! Well that's weird. I came her to help out today because I wanted to make sure Hikari's date was a success. She's on that table over there you see?' she said as she pointed plainly across the room. 'What a coincidence! Do they know you guys are here? Probably not! You all look so different outside of school---' She stopped. Ken had buried his head in his arms on the table from embarrassment now, and even Takeru was flushed.

'Oh please don't tell me…' Izumi began. The group was silent. She retrained herself from banging her fist unto the table. 'Guys! How could you!' she cried.

'Hey, I'm justified.' Taichi said stubbornly. 'Big brother, remember?'

'That's no excuse! You should just leave now!' Izumi said firmly.

'Are you driving out customers?' Takeru asked, raising an eyebrow. 'I was going to order something, you know.' Izumi felt defeated. 'Would you like a menu, then?' she sighed through gritted teeth.

'Yes please.'

'I can't believe you're doing this, guys!'

'Don't look at us!' Miyako said defensively. 'Ken and I are here to make sure they don't do anything stupid!'

'I hope you can manage, then.' Izumi tied up her long hair. 'I've got to go. More customers are coming in. Try not to get into trouble, okay?' and, after dishing out an individual menu for each of them, she flounced off to the next table, scribbling down their orders.

****

Izumi makes her appearance in the scene. Poor Ken is dying from the guilt and humiliation of stalking, while Taichi still remains as determined as ever. Wonder where this is going…


End file.
